Vox, a new old fashioned radical right in Spain Cover Image

Vox, a new old fashioned radical right in Spain
Vox, a new old fashioned radical right in Spain

Author(s): Alberto Escribano López
Subject(s): Political behavior, Politics and society, Politics and Identity
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Vox; radical right; winning formula theory; political discourse; political proposal; nationalism; authoritarianism; Welfare Chauvinism; Spain; Europe;

Summary/Abstract: The rapid emergence of political party Vox on the stage of the European radical right and its consolidation as the third most voted political party in Spain has raised a debate about where to locate this political formation ideologically on the map of the European radical right. This article addresses this issue through a qualitative analysis of its party manifestos and discourse, and the revision of the winning formula theory formulated by Herbert Kitschelt. The research results demonstrate that Vox is a radical right party that fits the core features of the radical right family. Its political discourse and political proposal are based on a combination of nationalism articulated through the defence of the integrity of the Spanish Nation, authoritarian view of the society attached to the values of law and order, a defence of the traditional values and economic agenda with neoliberal component. All these factors make Vox a particular member of this party family within the European context. Vox ́s political proposal, with authoritarian position in the political and neoliberal economy, distances it from the majority of the current radical right, which has abandoned the radical anti-statism of the eighties to adopt the so-called Welfare Chauvinism. Vox ́s political project moves it closer to the position occupied during the eighties and nineties by radical right formations and the position currently occupied by the Portuguese party Chega, with whom Vox shares a similar political trajectory.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 133-150
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: English